Auction House Price Fixing?

[pandars]

Is it allowed??

I spoke with someone that said they have a group of 4-5 people that work together to control the auction house on a particular item and was wondering if anyone has had experience with anything similar?

[Silhouette of Seraphim]

Surely is.

If they're controlling the market, it means easy gold for you, as they're gonna be snatching up anything you post.

[Deleted]

It is allowed technically BUT there have been many instances of game masters stepping in and giving warnings for over-control, price fixing and other problems. They can give warnings and they can take further action if they deem that there is a problem - but there's nothing set in stone so it's very hard to know exactly what.

I think that it would be very hard for you to prove that all 4-5 people are working together first off, and secondly, in most cases of a cartel (which is actually illegal in the UK and in many countries), which is what this sounds like, they very rarely work in wow - or you can use them to your advantage. If you undercut them, to control the market they are forced to buy you out to put you out of the picture. If enough people undercut them, all their stockpiles will end up being devalued and they'll struggle to keep controlling it. It can work, but they'd have to put in a lot of effort and gold and on my server plenty of people have tried to control the market - and failed horribly.

But yeah, short answer is technically it is allowed although if you feel that an individual is seriously damaging the economy or "griefing" using the AH (causing unnecessary problems), you can report them and a warning *might* be given if there is enough evidence to follow through your claim.

[Deleted]

As Shamanic said, it technically is allowed, but over-controlling is usually frowned upon. By over-controlling, I mean controlling so much of the market that it begins to adversely affect the market and other players. Blizzard has already banned people for doing this (temporary bans). I've talked to several that it happened to. Controlling the market one a few items may be okay and less likely to draw attention, depending on what those items are.

Your best bet would be to target items that are related to leveling up professions, pre-Wrath mats. Those are less likely to draw attention and easier to control due to the lower supply. Controlling the market on say Vanilla gems (Jade, Moss Agate, Star Ruby, Shadowgem, Azerothian Diamond, etc.) could be accomplished because the supply isn't extensive. The same for leatherworking mats or enchanting mats (though enchanting is a little more difficult, as some players will disenchant items they get as they level up a character... but you would be targetting those max level characters that want to power level enchanting and have to buy up the mats).

I've done similar things with a few mats here and there, just to test the waters and play around. With several people, it would be much easier to accomplish. It's harder to do by yourself. The Mobile AH app helps make that an easier task now, but prior to that, it was hard since I couldn't be online during the day (at work from 8a-5p). It is something fun to try though, if you are looking for another way to make some extra gold.

[ZeroWashu]

Is it allowed??

I spoke with someone that said they have a group of 4-5 people that work together to control the auction house on a particular item and was wondering if anyone has had experience with anything similar?

Yes. There are lifers. As in people who play the game ALL day, eighteen hours a day in some cases. When I went for my first stupid amounts of gold in Wrath it was more prevalent than when I did it with JC during Crusade. So what I ended up doing was getting whitelisted by these people for my gem/glyph/enchant auctions. That allowed me to post without having to worry about what was going on.

For the markets I wanted in that I could not get to the people "controlling" the market I simply changed the rules. As in, I set the maximum price an item would sell and kept sufficient stock up there to force them to conform or buy me out daily. (that worked well in two markets recently for me)

[Haruk]

Yes. There are lifers. As in people who play the game ALL day, eighteen hours a day in some cases. When I went for my first stupid amounts of gold in Wrath it was more prevalent than when I did it with JC during Crusade. So what I ended up doing was getting whitelisted by these people for my gem/glyph/enchant auctions. That allowed me to post without having to worry about what was going on.

For the markets I wanted in that I could not get to the people "controlling" the market I simply changed the rules. As in, I set the maximum price an item would sell and kept sufficient stock up there to force them to conform or buy me out daily. (that worked well in two markets recently for me)

I don't see how that works. There appears to be some glyph controllers on my server. What I will sometimes notice is that glyphs are at very high prices (say 150G+) and I will see them like that for several days. So I decide to make some glyphs and undercut by 20G or so. It seems almost instantaneously, there will be 20 of each glyph I undercut now posted at bargain basement prices (like 12.99G per glyph). If I undercut again, I get bought out, but at that low price point it's not worth my while. I've put my glyphs in the bank for a week and tried later, but the whole cycle repeated. I'm not a lifer, so I gave up, and glyph prices skyrocket again.

I don't see anything I can do to battle this. I suspect I'd have to mass produce and sell low for weeks to attempt to bully them out of the market, and I am way too lazy to do that. Don't know for sure though. I admit I give up in short order.

[quietstrm07]

I don't see how that works. There appears to be some glyph controllers on my server. What I will sometimes notice is that glyphs are at very high prices (say 150G+) and I will see them like that for several days. So I decide to make some glyphs and undercut by 20G or so. It seems almost instantaneously, there will be 20 of each glyph I undercut now posted at bargain basement prices (like 12.99G per glyph). If I undercut again, I get bought out, but at that low price point it's not worth my while. I've put my glyphs in the bank for a week and tried later, but the whole cycle repeated. I'm not a lifer, so I gave up, and glyph prices skyrocket again.

Here's exactly what they are doing. They have their glyphs up high normally to earn maximum profits for themselves. As soon as they get undercut, they post superlow (while remaining profitable or sometimes not) to see what your posting threshold is (the lowest price you're willing to post at). If you undercut them, they are buying you out to replenish their glyph supplies for when they sell at the much higher prices.

If you want to try and make some profit, keep posting glyphs below what they are trying to sell for (but above your costs plus a slight margin for your time). They may continue to buy you out for a while, but it doesn't matter because you are still making profit at this point (just not as much as expected). After a while, they will build up their supply of glyphs without having a whole lot of sales for themselves and they will stop buying out your auctions (and may raise their prices because they need to make profit on all the ones they just bought from you). This is more than likely where you'll start to make some more gold. Given this situation, if you cannot profitably make glyphs for less than what they are buying you out at, this is probably not the market to try penetrating

[Rezman]

I just keep undercutting them by 2 copper. At some point they give up or my items will sell. I do have a limit I go down to and it depends on the item. I know exactly who the AH players are on my realm. I love to toy with them too. In fact.. I wrote a program that checks the AH once an hour and sends me an email for all my auctions that were undercut. Tells me who and by how much. If I'm not doing anything I can log in and re-post my auctions undercutting them by 2 copper. I've got to the point where I will undercut the jerks that price jack the market.

BTW I know these are item price jackers because when I stop posting, after about 2 days they start posting the items at 150+g at which point I start posting again at 50 or 75% their buyout price. More in the normal market range according to my auctioneer.

Also, I see them mainly in the glyph and gem market.

[ZeroWashu]

I don't see anything I can do to battle this. I suspect I'd have to mass produce and sell low for weeks to attempt to bully them out of the market, and I am way too lazy to do that. Don't know for sure though. I admit I give up in short order.

You set a price and keep the AH there. I don't care what their price is. First off, never price at a level that encourages other to take up the trade skill. What are your costs to make glyphs? If its 25g then fix your prices between 50 and 75 and leave them there 48 hours at a time.

Don't cancel and post over and over again to compete with them, it is obvious you up against lifers. I bet you could find most of them online throughout the day. The only way you deal with them is to annoy them. If they are used to pricing at 150 then you make it 50 provided you make a good profit. Post in one or twos AT MOST. If they price below your costs then keep you items posted at your base price.

You must also learn which glyphs are good, which are from the books, and which are from research.

It sounds like your competition knows how to deal with upstarts, they simply demoralize them. If your that easily intimidated then just sell mats.